Friday, July 26, 2013

Public Proclamation of Shabbat

Public Proclamation of Shabbat 



 Arthur L. Finkle

Shabbat 35a-b – asks, How did people know when Shabbat was going to begin? Rabbi Yishmael taught: Six blasts are sounded on Shabbat eve. On the sound of the first tekiah the people, standing and working in the fields refrained from hoeing and plowing and any other labor in the fields. Those workers who worked close to the city were not permitted to enter the city until those who work farther away came, so that they will all enter together. Otherwise, people would suspect that the workers who came later continued to work after the blast. Thus, desecrating the Sabbath. At this time, the stores in the city were open. Yjeir shutter remained open. The storekeepers arranged their merchandise in front of their stores. After the second blast, the storekeepers removed the shutters; the stores were locked. But in the homes, hot water was still cooking on the stove and pots remained on the stove. After the third blast, the householder removed the food from the stove; insulated hot water for Shabbat; and lit the Shabbat lights. The shofar sounder pauses for the duration that it takes to fry a small fish or to stick bread in oven, and he sounds a tekia, and sounds a terua, and sounds a tekia, and accepts the Shabbat. The shofar blasts advising the people of Shabbat had to be heard throughout the city of Jerusalem and beyond, especially by those working in the fields. Although the Gemora does not indicate where the Shofar was sounded, Josephus refers to the spot as being on one of the towers of the Temple (Wars of the Jews 4:9:12). (In the 20th century, an Israeli archaeologist located a large stone platform at the southwest corner of the walls surrounding the Temple Mount, with the inscription: "To the trumpeting place to…" Apparently, it fell from a tower atop the wall and shattered during the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. A stone from the 1st century C.E., inscribed, "To the Place )


Shofar as a Precious Object Numbers 29:1 וּבַחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ מִֽקְרָא־קֹ֨דֶשׁ֙ יִֽהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם כָּל־מְלֶ֥אכֶת עֲבֹדָ֖ה לֹ֣א תַֽעֲשׂ֑וּ י֥וֹם תְּרוּעָ֖ה יִֽהְיֶ֥ה לָכֶֽם׃ "And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation: ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a day of blowing the horn unto you."


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